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GetDeb is an Ubuntu software portal with ready-to-install applications in Ubuntu's default package format. It was created to simplify the installation of new software for Ubuntu users. GetDeb focuses both on providing newer versions of software included in Ubuntu and software that is omitted from the official repositories.

PlayDeb is a sister project to GetDeb, likewise serving the Ubuntu community, but with an explicit focus on games.

In recent May, 2010 the server for GetDeb was down until June 13th 2010^[1]. The server also crashed on February 28, 2010 and was down until March 9, 2010. The official blog for GetDeb gives a public notice of downtime.

As an Ubuntu software portal, repository, and source, the downtime of GetDeb, as with other repositories, can cause problems for users as they cannot install or update software that is provided through the GetDeb while it is unavailable.

As Ubuntu and Debian upon which it is based use the deb package format, it is easiest to install software packaged in that format. While utilities such as the GNU build system typically allow users to install or uninstall software after building it from source code, they do not integrate with any one Linux distribution, nor do they solve dependencies. Thus, ideally software is installed in a distribution-specific format.

GetDeb and its sister project PlayDeb package software such that it can easily be installed in a user-friendly point-and-click manner on Ubuntu, removing hurdles for less-technical users.

GetDeb and PlayDeb serve two primary purposes. They allow Ubuntu users to install software that is not yet included in the main repositories, and offer current versions of many packages that are included in the Ubuntu repositories. The latter is of utility because, due to the release cycle adopted by Ubuntu, most packages will be several months out of date at the time of release, and will not receive feature updates until the next discrete release for stability reasons.

It is generally advisable to run from Ubuntu's own packages where possible, as software offered by GetDeb and PlayDeb has not been extensively tested with the current Ubuntu release. However, in many cases newer versions of software are only omitted from a specific Ubuntu release due to releases typically being static except for security updates. In some cases, software packaged by GetDeb and PlayDeb may be beta or alpha releases.

Additionally, software offered may not conform to the Debian or Ubuntu packaging guidelines. GetDeb and PlayDeb overlap somewhat in purpose with the rolling release Debian Sid and the Ubuntu Backports repository.

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